Communal Violence and Assertion of Identity - Indian Social Institute

COMMUNAL VIOLENCE AND

COMMUNAL VIOLENCE AND ASSERTION OF IDENTITY 25 violence. Politics today is manipulating these multiple communities along the “fault-lines” of the Indian nation, emphasizing a singular basis of identity, allowing other common bases of identity to be subordinated. This is an unreal situation, since individuals belong to multiple identities. Huntington had observed that identities tend to become hardened along communal lines. Political leaders expandand deepen their appeals to specific loyalties, either ethnic or religious. A “hate” dynamic emerges where mutual fears, distrust and hatred feed on each other. Moderates with more limited goals do not achieve their ends through negotiation and so the radicals take over and seek to achieve more extreme goals through violence (Huntington,1997:266). Today a norm seems to be emerging that a minority group that has less bargaining power across the table can express its demands more forcefully through violence. There is no concern that these means are against the democratic, secular principles of the nation or that they are demands for exclusive status for a region, which are contrary to the constitutional provisions. In these days of global interaction, such demands may be counter-productive both to the community demanding it and to India as a nation. REFERENCES Ahmad, I. 2003. ‘Identityand Nationalism: Historical Roots and Contemporary Manifestations’. Social Action. Vol.53, No.4, pp.428-438. D’Souza, Leela. 2002. ‘Ethnic Nationalism in India. An Appraisal’, Vidyajyoti, Vol.66, No.1, pp.35-47. _____ 2003. ‘Identity Formation and Pluralism: The Need to Reconstruct Identities’ Social Action, Vol.53, No.4, pp.413-427. Hasan, Zoya. 2009. Politics of Inclusion. New Delhi. Oxford University Press. Heehs, P. 2006 (1998). Nationalism, Terrorism, Communalism. Delhi. Oxford University Press. Huntington, S.P. 1997. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New Delhi. Penguin Books India (P) Ltd. Jaffrelot, C. 1996. The Hindu Nationalist Movement andIndian Politics. 1925-1990s. New Delhi. Viking.